-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- No play can begin in a baseball game until the pitcher throws the ball . And no play can conclude until the umpire makes the call .

`` We 're not just robots they send out there , '' umpire Tim McClelland -LRB- 2nd from L -RRB- told author Bruce Weber .

Yet these figures -- the man on the mound and the men who stand in judgment -- are vastly different in importance to the average fan .

There are countless children who dream of becoming a major-league pitcher . He is , literally , the king of the hill .

Umpires ? Almost nobody dreams of becoming an umpire .

And yet the positions share a number of similarities , according to two new books : `` As They See 'Em '' -LRB- Scribner -RRB- , by New York Times writer Bruce Weber , and `` The Complete Game '' -LRB- Knopf -RRB- , by former major-league pitcher -LRB- and current New York Mets broadcaster -RRB- Ron Darling .

Both jobs require a great deal of command , neither gets enough training , and both are often disrespected by others in the game .

Indeed , despite a library of books by and about pitchers -LRB- Jim Bouton 's `` Ball Four , '' Jim Brosnan 's `` The Long Season , '' Christy Mathewson 's `` Pitching in a Pinch '' -RRB- , Darling said he believes that people still do n't understand what it takes to stand on that mound .

`` Within baseball circles there is a common baseball axiom , ` If pitchers were n't so stupid , hitters would never get a hit , ' '' he said in an e-mail . `` Of course , I knew this was a fallacy so I decided to write about the travails of major league pitchers . Throwing a ball 95 mph to tin cup-sized quadrants sounds pretty difficult to me , and I wanted to express this to the reader . ''

Umpires , on the other hand , rarely get written about at all -- in fact , they 're often treated as less than human . -LRB- `` The owners basically see them like bases , '' former baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent told Weber . `` They say , ` We need a base ; we need an umpire ; same thing . ' '' -RRB- Weber found a fraternity -LRB- and they are almost all men -RRB- much like cops or soldiers : tight-lipped believers in baseball law and order .

Weber immersed himself in the `` land of umpires , '' as the book 's subtitle calls it , attending umpiring school , calling games at various levels of pro ball and talking with those who were willing -- including the legendary Doug Harvey , who was called `` God '' for his imperious demeanor . What he found is that what looks so obvious on television at home is often a challenge on the field , a matter not just of eyesight but positioning , rule-book knowledge and basic guts .

`` That 's really what -LSB- being an umpire -RSB- is about -- is being in charge , '' he said . `` If there 's anything that characterizes the major league umpire , it 's that special kind of chutzpah . ''

Umpires need that presence because they 're often baseball 's most disrespected men . Aside from the vitriol they face -- the managers kicking dirt , the spectators yelling `` Kill the ump '' -- they 're second-guessed by broadcasters and barely tolerated by management , as Weber reveals in detailing the episodes preceding and following the 1999 umpires ' strike .

And yet Major League Baseball does n't participate in umpire training or development , entrusting it to two umpire-run private schools , Weber observes . -LRB- MLB does run an annual umpire camp . -RRB-

Darling echoes Weber 's concerns in his own field , pitching . In these days of strict pitch counts and injury concern , pitchers are `` undertrain -LSB- ed -RSB- , '' he says , noting that top draft choices climb the ranks `` never allowed to throw more than 110 pitches . '' That leaves them at a disadvantage when they have to go deeper into a game or cope with a tough inning , he says .

`` It would be like training for the marathon and never running more than 5 miles , '' he says . `` Identifying and preserving million-dollar arms are -LSB- the purview -RSB- of doctors , not baseball people . ''

Darling 's book is a chronicle of pitchers ' thought processes , using individual innings from his pitching or broadcasting career to make his point . He talks about panic overtaking a pitcher , as it did for Darling in a 1984 game in which he got pasted by the Cubs ; he also addresses the rush of pitching in a World Series game and -- in a treat for baseball fans -- goes over the extra innings in perhaps the most famous college baseball game ever , a 1981 extra-inning contest that Darling 's Yale Bulldogs lost to Frank Viola 's St. John 's Redmen , 1-0 .

He says he remembered the games vividly . `` I definitely watched tapes and read box scores , but I was very clear on almost all the minutiae of the good old days . A little scary and maybe a major personality flaw ! ''

Pitchers get more support than umpires , of course . Darling observes that the relationship between a pitcher and his catcher during a well-pitched game `` is one of sport 's most beautiful dances . I would not have said it when I was playing , but after a shutout ... there is a love for that person immediately after the process . You did something together that could not have been done alone , and nobody can understand what you went through to get there . ''

Umpires , too , take pride in their best moments , though few pay attention outside their fellow umpires . More common is to be vilified for missed calls . Weber devotes a moving passage in his book to a conversation with the retired Don Denkinger , a 29-year veteran remembered by fans -LRB- if he 's remembered at all -RRB- for a wrong call in the 1985 World Series .

Though time has dulled the pain , `` I think he lives with -LSB- that call -RSB- every day , '' Weber said . `` When a dreadful thing happens to you in front of so many people and you become famous for it , it must be devastating . ''

Weber says his time with umpires has made him much more sympathetic to their judgmental tasks . When watching games now , the Yankees fan says , he 'll focus on the umpires .

`` I just think umpiring is interesting . People hate 'em , and they somehow perceive of umpiring as a flaw in the game , but I do n't , '' he said . `` Now I 'm always interested who the umpires are . ''

Which is a point the umpires would appreciate .

`` Umpires are people , too , '' veteran ump Tim McClelland told Weber . `` We have families ; we have emotions . ... Somebody says , ` Kill the umpire , ' and people go , ` Heh , heh , that 's funny , ' but in order to do that , you have to disassociate the umpire from the person .

`` We 're human . We 're not just robots they send out there . ''

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`` As They See 'Em '' is in-depth look at baseball umpires

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`` The Complete Game , '' by Mets broadcaster Ron Darling , gets inside pitcher 's head

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Two positions have similarities : necessary command , some disrespect